Parrott wrote:Going Sat arvo, wanted to go for the night also but have to get the kids home.

Nice, enjoy

Bummer about the men's pursuit, they certainly had a crack. Took a WR to beat them.

Thanks, looking forward to it.

Didn't realise sbs 2 had the cycling on and turned over just in time to see the poms on the top step. Bugger I was hoping our lads would clean em up. They will certainly be aiming to reverse the result in Aug now.

Chuck wrote:The kilo on tonight. Great event, easy for the casual observer to understand, should have never been dropped from the Olympic program.

It was good, I liked the analogy between it and the 400m running race, raw speed and endurance needed. I liked the different results of smaller gearing and fast start but tending to fade at the end, v taller gearing slower start but better last lap.

On the second Day, the two events that caught my eye for tactics and gearing.Omnium Men's Points race with the Italian Elia Viviani, who was consistant and well positioned, always, throughout. And he was able to gain the lap over a tired looking O'Shea (overgeared IMO)... gears being very important (#1) in points races.And the Elimination in which Bryan Coquard looked nippy to the overgeared and tiredlooking O'Shea who seemed to use too much of his energies being up front.Coquard's tactics were reminiscent of how I liked to approach eliminations, tactically. Glenn O'Shea has been consistent, overall in the Omnium, and despite my opinion of his being overgeared, we hope he can continue. Omnium being a great all-rounder event.For me, these were the most interesting Events of the night.Cheers

Lone Rider- I rode on the long, dark road... before I danced under the lights.

osrg wrote:Big choke by Anna Meares in the Semi's.... DQ'd in the 2nd heat, threw the 3rd away.

If you took the "Officials" as the third competitor out of the equation, most results were obvious.And as you say Meares threw the 3rd away, with no need to go outside the sprintline.Pendleton was lucky, and the story of the night in the Women was the Lithuanian Simona Krupeckaite,who was the best in the final, and the decision against her, misguided. But that's the Sprint.

Perkins was lucky, and Bourgain was better on the night (and the darkhorse). Shane may have movedthrough, but think that may be about it (maybe the car-clash did have an effect). It's now down to who will meet Gregory Bauge in the Final, in my opinion.

Sprint Championships, have been entertaining so far and will be for sure. Cheers

Lone Rider- I rode on the long, dark road... before I danced under the lights.

i will admit, i was yelling at the tv in the points race to get meyer there.... he mustve heard me!! such a great race.. aaron gate the kiwi bloke deserved a medal for helping meyer out... and meyer owes him a carton or two!!!

but the highlight / shock for me was watchin hepburn be down 1.9secs on bobridge and come back and win their final!!!

vander wrote:Brentono: What do you think those sprinters are racing on, is it just me or does it look like they are on big gears, it looks like they are on around 50-14s.

Your probably correct on average= 50x14 as the Arena appears to be a very fast Track.But I don't think it's just black&white. Different riders and situations would see thegearing vary. The key in gear choice is the riders "ability" to handle that particular gear.In the qualifying, most riders would be up a point (or even 2?) on normal, as it is a TT.Though this would be debateable, as being worthwhile, to gain time, depending on the rider.A rider that can handle (pedal) lower gears, well, has the ability to move up (but not vise-versa FME)Riders, that are not handling the selected gear, tend to move a lot, causing sprintline infringements.Bauge is a great example of a rider, that can handle both gearings (L/H), and with a very smooth pedalaction, shows great bike control under pressure, and can hug the sprinter's-line, as smooth as silk.It's something to observe closely, and something for up and coming Sprinters to train at, and to perfect.(though it wasn't strictly supervised, in my day, it was something I personally perfected for reason)In the future this may be something the AIS, may need to take a look at. IMO.

Sad that we didn't get the decider, in the Men's Final. But the result would have been the same. IMOCheers

Lone Rider- I rode on the long, dark road... before I danced under the lights.

I just have to say this, the SBS telecast is brilliant (take note Channel 9, if you are actually bothered watching), Held together by Mike T, Matthew Keenan and David Mackenzie (apologies for spelling if its needed), the technicalities of track racing have become second nature to the casual observer (the better half).What with the upcoming SBS broadcasts of the euro classics, we should all be firing of an email to SBS thanking them for their comittment to cycling.